The present invention generally relates to the obtaining and reconciliation of time attendance records. More particularly, the present invention relates to an automated method of reconciling time attendance records which are asynchronous, such as being obtained from independent time clocks at multiple locations.
It is common practice for employees to “clock-in” and “clock-out” when checking in and checking out of work, such as when arriving at work, taking a lunch break and leaving for the day. The use of time clocks for tracking the time when an employee checks in and checks out is common place.
However, an employee or supervisor must collect the time cards at the end of the shift or work period (usually every week or two) and calculate the hours worked each day for each employee. This is a time consuming and expensive task. Moreover, in some work environments, such as a construction job site, it is difficult to monitor when employees check in and check out. This is due to the fact that such work sites are often outdoors and not conducive to the traditional time clock apparatuses. A company can lose thousands of dollars per year when employees arrive fifteen minutes late and leave fifteen minutes early, but do not reflect it on the written timesheets.
Aside from the potential work time lost or monetary fraud on the company, it takes a significant amount of time to calculate the hours worked each day for each employee. This is exasperated in certain industries, such as the construction industry, wherein workers may travel from one job site to another job site during the billing time period, or perhaps even during a given day.
There exists various automated clocks for tracking when an employee checks in and out. In many cases, when time attendance information is recorded on multiple clocks, the information is either shared with the clocks, or more typically, the information is sent to a central computer or processor in real time as the event happens, or occasionally in batches. In such scenarios, the time attendance records are synchronized with one another as the multiple time attendance devices are electronically connected with one another and/or the central processor. Thus, the central processor receives the time attendance records in a chronological fashion, even though the time attendance records or events may occur at different time attendance devices or clocks.
However, tracking and reconciling problems exist when time attendance records are asynchronous, such as when the time attendance records are brought in from multiple time attendance devices or clocks which are not connected to a central processor nor each other. The time attendance records are typically processed each time attendance device at a time, creating asynchronous and non-chronological records which are very difficult to reconcile.
Because the workflow patterns of a particular company may dictate that employees move between locations, and track their time at each of these locations, the fact that the information is brought in asynchronously may mean that erroneous information can result. Stated more simply, in an asynchronous system, it cannot be guaranteed at any one time the central server has any and all information from all clocks at that point in time. It may have limited information, or no information at all. This can cause a problem when the end user attempts to view the time information. Because the time stamps are not available from all the clocks, the information is inaccurate. Furthermore, when the information is eventually brought in from those clocks, it needs to properly synchronize with the time information that has already been brought in, so that the flow of temporal information is accurate.
Accordingly, there is a continuing need for a time attendance reconciliation method, wherein the reconciliation of an employee's time, particularly at multiple job sites, can be automated so as to save time and effort and obtain more accurate timesheets. The present invention fulfills these needs and provides other related advantages.